Hyram fills a Petri dish with agar, which is a growth medium for bacteria. Then he raises a colony of bacteria in a Petri dish. For the first week, he observes the colony double in number every 1.5 days. Then he predicts that during the second week, the pattern of exponential growth will change to a pattern of logistic growth. If Hyram’s prediction is correct, which MOST likely will be the cause of the change in the growth pattern of the bacteria?

(A) The rate of bacterial reproduction will decrease gradually over time in any growth medium.

(B) The amount of agar in the Petri dish will act as a limiting factor on the bacterial colony.

(C) A random mutation will produce bacteria that cannot reproduce, and so they die off quickly.

(D) As the bacteria population increases, the sizes of individual bacteria will become smaller.

(E) As the bacteria population increases, the rate that bacteria reproduce will increase.